"By the way, I’ve been reading the English press the last four or five days," he said. Presuming he was about to deliver a news-making quote about Thursday’s Scottish referendum, I replied: "It is a big moment, isn’t it?"

"No, not just the vote tomorrow," he said. "But my wife was with Prince Harry at the Invictus Games. And I read in the Guardian, or one of them, and it says – I’m paraphrasing – everywhere Prince Harry went, he had this blonde woman on his arm. The vice-president’s wife! I’m a little worried here, you know what I mean?"